The present invention relates, in general, to sugar dispensers, and more particularly to a manually operable dispenser which forms the base for a sugar container and which is adapted to dispense predetermined quantities of sugar upon actuation, while keeping the container closed when it is not in use.
Although dispensers for sugar containers for the type commonly used in restaurants or in homes to control the flow of sugar or to dispense only a predetermined quantity thereof are well known, such dispensers generally are of the cap type which are fitted on the top of a sugar container for actuation when the container is turned upside down. These containers and dispensers were developed because of the excessive waste of sugar products that occurs when sugar is placed on tables or counters in open containers from which sugar is served by means of spoons. Not only are open containers subject to contamination by dust or insects, but the serving spoons kept with the containers often were the source of moisture, food particles, or the like which made the sugar in the container unpalatable if not unuseable. The problems of wastage and contamination created by open containers were solved in part by the use of pre-packaged servings of sugar where the sugar is contained in individual paper packages, each containing one serving. However, such packages greatly increase the cost of providing sugar, and for this reason numerous attempts have been made to develop bulk containers which would provide the protection against contamination and spillage as well as the convenience of single servings which has made paper packages so widely used, while reducing the cost to approximately that of the cost of bulk sugar.
Although prior dispensers have often provided adequate service, they have not been entirely satisfactory since they leave the cap and the dispensing orifice exposed and thus subject to an accumulation of moisture, dust, and the like. Further, such dispensers generally have a relatively small tip which is subject to being inadvertently immersed in the food or drink to which the sugar is being added, and thus are subject to contamination by accumulated material so that succeding quantities of sugar are not clean. Such accumulations, as well as the collection of moisture can cause rapid clogging of the dispensing mechanism. Finally, since the dispensing openings for such devices open upwardly, the sugar within the container itself is often subject to contamination.
Where such dispensers incorporate automatic devices for measuring a predetermined quantity of sugar they often require a dual motion of the container and cap for operation: i.e., the container must be turned upside down to load the dispenser, turned right-side up to permit the mechanism to adjust for dispensing, and then turned upside down again for dispensing. Alternatively, the dispenser must rely upon some gravity-operated mechanism to cut off the flow after a predetermined time period. The excessive complexity of such devices not only make them unreliable, but make them unduly expensive. Thus, dispensers of the type formed in caps for sugar containers, although desireable, have not met with success since they usually do not work properly, if at all.